17th October, 2011
Valuable items worth over N5 million were lost to the petrol tanker fire disaster that occurred last night in Oke-Sokori area of Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The fire incident which occurred at about 8.00 p.m. last night was caused by the driver of a petroleum tanker with registration number XN 62 AGL. At least eight cars, two trucks and several shops were burnt.
When our correspondent visited the scene of the incident this morning, the security personnel comprising of policemen, road safety officials, TRACE, Civil Defence Corps and Red Cross officials had cordoned off the area from Totoro axis of the road to Akinolugbade.
Vehicular movement was restricted in the area for fear that the spilled petroleum product may ignite more fire.
Among the shops that got burnt were Oreoluwa Building Material Store which belongs to Alhaji Adiaga, Dammy GSM Solution Store, a big foodstuff warehouse, Gimgim Furniture and a liquor shop.
Governor of Ogun, Ibikunle Amosun, visited the scene of the incident this morning and sympathised with the victims.
He promised to assist them get compensation from the appropriate quarters after investigation as to the cause of the incident.
—Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta